Performance matters
Our successes and delivering on improvements - updates from 2023/24
This provides a brief summary of our key successes and improvements from 2023/24.
Workforce development
Although our workforce survey indicates that people feel well supported and valued by Coventry City Council. Listening to our workforce and developing our workforce skills in order to appropriately support the population we serve is a key priority. Improvements include;
- Recruitment - by including supportive video’s particularly for mental health where recruitment was most challenging. The videos featured an expert by experience talking about her experience of our services alongside a social worker
- Links with migration services - to recruit from those moving to Coventry from new communities
- The implementation of ‘stay interviews’ - so we understand what makes people stay working for Coventry rather than just why people leave
- Undertaking council wide focus groups with employees from visible ethnic minorities - to understand and improve, where required, on their experiences as employees working for the Council
Our reviewing approach
As well as providing an essential check as to whether someone’s care and support needs are being appropriately met our approach to undertaking reviews has evolved to also be an opportunity for change in how we promote choice, control and independence in the way we deliver our services. Improvements include;
- Revisiting our processes to maximise reviewing opportunities
- Building on the options we offer to people
- Using feedback from reviews to identify market gaps to inform commissioning arrangements
The voice of the resident
The more we understand the experience of people supported the better able we are to develop our services. Improvements include;
- Holding community engagement events, specifically within neighbourhoods and communities whose voices are seldom heard
- Using our real time experience survey to help us gather feedback on people's experience
- Developing information materials to include a wider range of the main languages spoken in Coventry
- Increasing the frequency of experts by experience being present on recruitment panels and in selection processes
Developing the social care market
Improving the range and quality within the social care market is an ongoing programme of work to ensure our support offer meets the needs of an increasingly diverse community. Improvements include;
- Establishing a “creative options” panel of practitioners to enable consideration of alternatives to traditional methods of care at the point of support planning
- Creating partnerships with local Voluntary and Community sector groups to support those people who come to us with needs that do not meet Care Act eligibility criteria to help with the delay and prevention of decline and need
- Exploring ways to increase the use of Direct Payments to enable greater independence
Our use of technology in the delivery of care and support
We are supporting the adoption of Integrated Care Records, digital social care records and are exploring and implementing innovative ways to support falls prevention within care home settings. Improvements include;
- Secured funding through the Digital Transformation Fund via NHS England (NHSE) and employed a Digital Transformation Officer to support the Adult Social Care provider market implement Digital Social Care records by 2025
- Secured money from Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) to work with West Midlands 5G to develop digital solutions to support Adult Social Care delivery
- Implemented Integrated Care Records for Adult Social Care working as part of the Integrated Care System (ICS) to deliver better outcomes for individuals, minimising the number of times people need to re-share their information and enabling professionals to work in a more integrated way
"We will do everything in our power to enable people across Coventry and Warwickshire to pursue happy, healthy lives and put people at the heart of everything we do".